Jesus Prays for All His People (John 17:20-24)

The Saviour, in his prayer, looks ahead to the ingathering of his people. Indeed, he looks ahead to the end when all his people will be together. When we consider his prayer for them, we can see that he mentions three things about them. First, he states how they will become his people; second, he prays that they would be one; and third, he prays that all of them would see his glory.

 

How will they become his people?

Jesus says that they will become his people through the word of the apostles. The ‘word’ here is probably their message, and we know that it is now found in the Bible. It is possible that ‘word’ means the written word, but many of the apostles did not contribute to the New Testament. So I think we should regard the term ‘word’ as pointing to the gospel, the message that the apostles declared, and which has been declared ever since by those who hold to the same faith as the apostles. It is through responding to the gospel that sinners become the people of God. 

 

I would make two brief comments about this. First, we should observe the amazing fact that Jesus prays for the success of the gospel before he went to the cross, because he knew that what he would achieve on the cross would be central to the gospel. The message, after all, is about him and his achievements. He still intercedes for its success as he governs from the throne of God. 

 

Second, every convert is, in a real sense, an apostolic convert because it is through the apostolic gospel that such are converted. There is no need to change the message merely because we live in a different culture from the first century. At that time, there were numerous cultures throughout the world, and the gospel was effective wherever it was taken. They all became apostolic converts, and the same should happen today in response to the gospel.

 

Christian union (vv. 21-23)

We are familiar with various aims for Christian unity between denominations, whether locally, nationally or internationally. Usually, they quote these verses as an encouragement for their aims. But as we look at what Jesus prays for in verses 21-23, is he praying for human expressions of unity? 

 

Consider these four aspects of what Jesus prays for. First, the unity he prays for includes all his people from throughout history. Second, the unity he prays for is union with the divine Persons; in verse 21, he requests that they would be in the Father and the Son, and we can deduce from elsewhere that this living union is realised by the work of the Holy Spirit. Third, this union is stated to be perfect in verse 23, which would indicate that any form of imperfection no longer exists. Fourth, they will have a degree of glory that is like the glory that the Father gave to his Son (v. 22). 

 

Whatever else we wish to say about this union, it cannot refer to something that humans bring about in the first century or the twenty-first century. The union prayed for by Jesus only includes true believers, but it also includes all true believers from every period of time. When will that be achievable? Although there is a mystical sense in which all believers are already united, the first occasion when it will visibly take place will be at the Saviour’s second coming. That will be the time when they will all be together, when they will be perfect, when they will be glorified.

 

So what does Jesus mean here when he refers to the world? We should note that he does not pray that somehow the world would be converted through observing the harmony of believers. It is always possible that such could be used by Jesus at any time to cause sinners to think about the gospel. But he does not mention that here as his desired outcome. Instead he prays for other consequences for the world. 

First, in verse 21, when the world sees this union, they will believe that the Father sent the Son. Second, in verse 23, when the world sees this union, they will believe that the Father loved his people similar to how the Father loved the Son. Jesus is not praying for the conversion of the world here, because if he was, we would have to believe that the world would be converted.

 

So what is Jesus praying for? It looks as if he is praying for recognition and vindication. The world, the entire world apart from his people, will together experience an occasion when they will recognise that the Father sent his Son to save his people from their sins. When will be the occasion for this recognition to happen, when all the world will be together and all the people of God will be together? The occasion will be when Jesus returns. They will never be together in that way before then, and after the day of judgment they will be together in that way again.

 

Before we move to the next point, we should observe the dignity that Jesus places on the wonder of spiritual union with the Father and the Son. While we know that we often use words without coming anywhere near the experience we are using them for, it is a striking word that Jesus uses for spiritual union when he calls it glory. Often, a word is understood by considering the person who uses it. A local athlete can win a race and his or her victory can be called glory. But when an athlete wins an Olympic medal and it is described as glory, we know that there is a big difference between the two usages. A general can get glory for winning a battle, a rescuer can get glory by saving a number of people, a teacher can get glory by having successful pupils, a doctor can get glory by healing a lot of diseased people. 

 

So when Jesus uses the word ‘glory’, what does he mean by it, when we recall that he is the person who won the greatest battle, the person who rescued the greatest number, the person who enlightened that number, and the person who healed them all? His estimation of glory is very high, indeed it must be at the heights. And that is what he says about the union that his people have with one another and with the Father and the Son. 

Prayer is an expression of our desires, and here we have a marvellous insight into the desire of the Saviour for the day of his second coming.

 

Seeing his glory (v. 24)

In verses 21-23, Jesus prayed for what will occur on the day all his people are together for the first time. In verse 24, he prays for what they will do subsequently. We can go through the verse and observe its particular statements.

 

Jesus begins this petition by using the word ‘Father’. Surely, that usage indicates how precious the focus of this petition is to Jesus, and he also knew that it would be precious to the Father. 

 

Jesus also indicates the strength with which he makes this request. Prayer is the place where our hearts should be the strongest, but even in earnest prayer there are degrees of strength. Here Jesus speaks with intensity when he says ‘I desire’. He expresses the longing of his heart. Remember, that even for him, this desire has not yet been fulfilled. Even although many of his people see something of his glory in heaven, all his people have not yet seen it. And they all will not see it together until he returns.

 

The Saviour refers back to the eternal counsels when he describes his people as those ‘whom you have given me’. They were a gift of love from the Father and lovingly accepted by the Son. The Father and the Son loved always the people that they shared with one another. They were given together as a people in the past eternity, and the divine intention is for them to be together as a people in the coming eternity.

 

Earlier, in the previous petition, Jesus had asked the Father that the world would know that he had loved believers as he had loved his Son. Now, in this petition, Jesus says how the Father has loved him – he loved him from before the foundation of the world. In other words, the Father loved the Son eternally. How long has the Father loved his people? Eternally. The eternal love between the Father and the Son is the basis of the petition that the Son makes here on his way to the cross.

 

Jesus requests that all of his people will be with him eventually and with him endlessly. This is their destiny. He wants them to be with him so that he can provide them with continual blessings throughout the future ages. They want to be with him so that they will experience those blessings. One picture of this relationship is pictured in Revelation 7 when Jesus is described as the Shepherd who leads his people to the fountains of the waters of life, which is a way of describing him leading us into the satisfaction of experiencing constantly the fulness of God.

 

When we travel to another country, we always want to see its best sights. What will be the best sight in the heavenly country? To see the glory of Jesus. This glory is said by him to have been given to him by the Father, so I think Jesus means his Saviourhood by that term. He did not only save us from our sins, he saved us in order for us to know his exalted dignity, his amazing abilities and his glorious intentions. What can be said about seeing his glory apart from the fact that it will endless, fascinating, satisfying and enjoyable. Once we have started to see it, we will never want to see anything else for all eternity.

 

It was said about Jesus by a group of guards sent to arrest him, ‘Never man spoke like this man.’ Having listened to and thought about his prayer, surely we should say, ‘Never man prayed like this man.’